Answers to you Questions - Post 1

Here are the anwers to the questions that were left on my "Question and Answer" post. I hope that I answer these completely enough for those who asked. And I hope that I don't bore anyone with these answers. Well, sit back and enjoy learning more about who I am.

Have you and your husband always wanted a large family?

While my answer would be an emphatic YES!!! I guess I would say my husband knew that I wanted many children before we got married and I guess he was okay with that because he still asked me! I have always wanted six and I don't really know a number to put for my husband. As, he tells me even now, let's take it one at a time and see where God leads next. And I am okay with that.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

In the third grade I spent the entire year fixated on being a zoologist and I wanted to work in the San Diego zoo and travel to the rain forest. That is the only other thing besides a momma that I have ever really wanted "to be when I grew up". I did go to school and studied elementary education but with the life goal of homeschooling my children.

You look very young so you can't have been married very long. Were you and your husband qf from the beginning of your marriage?

My husband and I entered into marriage with no children. We were married young, I was 19 and he was 22. We started our family off quickly as our firstborn was welcomed into the world just 10 months later. We have added another baby into the household every other year since that time, years 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008.


Is Maggie's name really just Maggie or is that short for something?
 
Yes, Maggie's name is really just "Maggie". It isn't short for anything. I have always loved the name and while I wanted to name her Margret and just call her Maggie, her dad wouldn't hear of it. While he liked the name Maggie he didn't like Margret so, we stuck with Maggie.
 
What is your favorite song?


While that is a hard one and I have had many favorite songs during different seasons of my life, currently I would have to say THIS song is my favorite.

Which kind of baby carrier do you use?
 
I use a Moby now. I started off with a simple sling type carrier and while I enjoyed it, there were drawbacks to it. I got the Moby with our fourth baby and we are still using it often at 16 months. I absolutely LOVE it and can't recommend it enough. To me, as our fourth baby had acid reflux and colic, it was a must have, can't live without it, baby product.
 
What does it mean to be quiver full? (hope that's not a silly question)? not a silly question at all. It is actually one I am pleased to answer, as no other question touched on my faith.
 
The Bible tells us in Psalm 127 -
 1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.
3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
 
So, when I came up with the title for the blog it was to speek of our families desire to train our children in the ways of God. So that hopefully they will grow to be servants of His and to live their lives fully committed to Him. Also, arrows are fashioned and made with the one purpose of shooting them into the air and away from one's self. Just as children are raised under thier parent's care, and must be carefully guided and "fashoined" so that they will one day be sharp arrows ready to "fly" away from home and find the mark, or place. that God is calling them to serve in.
Does that make sense? If you have any other questions I would be happy to talk with anyone about it. Just leave me a comment and let me know.
 
Well, I think that cover them all. I hope that you have enjoyed this as much as I have. I have loved getting all of your comments over the past several months and I hope that you will continue to follow along this journey of our lives with us. May God bless you all this coming week.

The things of life....

What are the things of life? The list is endless. More specifically, what are the most important things in life? Air. Water. Health. Yes, all of these are important but today I feel compeled to list very specific things that my heart has been reminded of lately. Things that are important to me and that are blessing my life on a daily basis.

My children and spouse -

My home -

Cloth Diapers ( can't get enough of those colors!!)

My Bible (Not everyone has one) -

Laundry (if it didn't pile up that would mean we didn't have clothing) -

Deep Freezes (I am slowly embarking on freezer cooking and this has proved to be vital) -

Rocking Chairs (this one was bought with the first baby and has seen many miles. Ones that can't be brought back and ones I am so glad that I took)-

Smiles -

Fingerprints (Man how they grow) -

Anyway, I wanted to take the time to post these things today for my heart. You see at times the trenches of motherhood, while full of blessings, can be hard. We are tired at night and, if you have a toddler like mine, tired in the morning too! But this life is full of amazing blessings if we just take the time to see them. These are items that in years to come might not mean as much to me and I don't want to forget a moment of this blessing filled life.

Please don't forget to leave your questions for me in the previous post. Ask me ANYTHING!!!

Followers...Ask Me Anything

I have had many new followers added to not only my blog but also to my Twitter (I do have my account locked so if you want to follow me you will have to send a request) account lately. So, I thought it might be fun to allow you to ask me anything that you would like to know. How many children do I want? What does my husband do for a living? What cloth diapers do I use? My favorite food or drink? Ask away, and I will answer as many as I can in a post soon. Just leave a comment and you shall will probably get an answer.





P.S. I do reserve the right to only answer questions that my husband and I feel are in the best interest of our family to answer.

Baby Playing Mommy

Kate has decided that babies are the best toy ever invented.

She is learning to mother and to care. As the third girl in our family she has her choice of babies and baby accessories to play with.

I love watching my baby playing mommy!

Keeping It REAL, Here

It is cold outside where I live so I am going to say, "Grab a glass of hot chocolate and sit back for a long read." But if you live where it is warmer, grab a glass of iced tea! I really felt burdened to share my heart. This is lengthy but I hope you will find time to read it all and that it will bless your heart.


I have started many posts thinking that I was going to write about how I felt at the time, only to delete them thinking they would make others feel bad, or that others didn't want to hear about my struggles or bad days. But over the past several weeks I have felt the need to share my struggles. I have many times experienced relief when I read about another momma that struggles with her attitude or with being productive. So, I need to "vent" I want to document my struggles and what has helped, and I want to lighten someone's load by letting them know they are not alone.

It is January. Really need I say more?

For anyone who lives where there is "WINTER" they know what I mean. The fun of the holidays is over. Life is settling down into routine again but one thing is hard. It is cold. It is windy. It is GREY!!! All the time grey, with little sunshine and everyone must be inside most of the time.

 Everyone needs to get out of this house!


Over the past couple of weeks there has been a lot going on in my family. My sister has been sick and I have been on the phone giving updates a lot and helping to support her over the phone while she is three states away. We have had a couple different situations at church that have been on my mind lately as well. I have been heavy hearted for these situations to begin with.

Add on top of that four young children at home ALL day long. They grow weary of being indoors all day everyday and I grow weary of their lack of interest in anything. With everyone in the house more toys get taken out than get put away, and this leave this momma feeling as if she is fighting a loosing battle most days.

After many days of feeling run down, stressed out, and going no where as I spent days on end doing the same four things. Children. Dishes. Laundry. House. I started to loose motivation. I started to wonder if it was even worth it. I started slipping. Have you ever "slipped"? I didn't "slip" as far this time as I have in the past and I was able to climb back up faster than usual. For I have found the answer to my problem, most of the time.

ME!!!

When I focus on my stress and my work and my desires, I tend to get overwhelmed and lose the joy that I usually enjoy in my life. If I allow myself to become weighted down with the worries of this life, I lose my joy. I begin to HATE this life that I normally love and I begin to resent the very people that I usually live for. So, what have I found that works for me? Well, I would love to tell you.

I love routine. I love a clean house. So, I have learned that when I start to "slip" I must prepare myself mentally to start the next day on a different foot. See, I have a routine and I love it. I love how my house is cleaned and my children are rested and my sink is shiny when I stick to my routine. I love how I take the time to be in the Word of my Savior each and every morning. I also find that if I stick to my routine I have more time throughout my week to visit with friends, do crafts with my children, and finish projects that I have been wanting to do. But really I still only have 24 hours in each day even when I am on my routine. I just use them wiser. I don't linger on the computer (my biggest time waster). I don't put off my work and then become stressed when it isn't done. I feel so much more content when I am doing my job and doing it well.

I love my job. I love my children. I love making my house a home.

So, when I start to slip into a state of self-centeredness and discontentedness I try to thrwart those feelings by pouring myself into the job I love after I set my heart right through God's Word.

Does it work the first time every time? No.

Why?

Because I am human and I don't always "want" to refocus. Sometimes feeling sorry for myself seems much more easy than putting the effort into pulling myself out. The opposite is usually true.

So, as I have been writing this post and it has continued to lengthen this is my heart and my prayer, that even as the long days of winter lome before us that you and I could find passion in our calling. Whether mother, daughter, homemaker, or educator, employee or boss, find passion in the calling God gave us and to not allow ourselves to be consumed with self-centeredness and self focus. For God's Word teaches -

..be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Do you struggle to keep your heart content with the life God has called you to? Do "slip" somedays into self-centeredness? If so, how do you pull your self out of it?

Parenting Week

This week the whole topic at "A Fresh Year, Fresh Start" is parenting. There were a couple of articles written that were worth sharing links to. First, over at "Closing Time" Erin talked about investing our children and giving them life. This is something that my husband and I have been trying to be much more intentional about in the past months. I have learned that even when I am folding laundry or washing dishes we can still invest in our children. We still spend time together. Kids don't care if what you are doing is super special and out of the ordinary. What they care about is you, their parents, showing them love, affermation, and affection. Head on over to read Erin's full article. You will not be sorry.

The second article that I have not stopped thinking about this week is found over at "Run the Earth, Watch the Sky"  . This post speeks about Raising Modern day Timothy's. The information in this post will cause you to stop and think. We have included a couple of these ideas into our household this school year. Our children are memorizing chapters in Bible memory now instead of just random verses. This has allowed for more training in how to use verses during our day to day live when we are making choices and it has also allowed us train our chilren how to look at the verse in context when trying to understand them. We try to always follow up our discipline with the Biblical aspect of their choices.
We have also choosen to not participate in Santa or the Easter Bunny as any more than an imaginary figure in our household which has allowed us to put the focus of these special times of the year onto our Saviour. Her article is well worth the read and gives some information that I didn't know about Bible time life.
So, how about you? How are you raising your children to be disciples and to love the Lord? How are you giving live to your children instead of just being a body that was in their home working all the time? Any ideas or thoughts or insights that you could share with us?

Polly Pocket meets Army Guy

Polly pocket, this is army guy and super hero.

Army guy and super hero, this is Polly Pocket.

May you enjoy countless hours of interaction in the hands of my children.

In our family we are totally comfortable with our girls playing army guys and our boys playing house with baby dolls. While this set up works for us it does breed some interesting mixes of toys, and conversations, and imaginations.

This is my life with a boy and girls!

Baby Wearing #2

I want to encourage other moms in the adventure of baby wearing. I love wearing my babies and I have seen the difference that is makes in a fussy, colicky baby. So, when I found this giveaway for a GREAT Ergo system I wanted to spread the word (and get two extra entries in the giveaway!). So hop on over to Happily Domestic  and enter yourself in the drawing for this highly rated baby/toddler carrier.

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY... from Amanda's Daybook

January 18th, 2010




Outside my window... foggy and cloudy. I am longing for sunshine and open window weather!



I am thinking... I sure hope the flu is gone! It's been a long 10 days.




I am thankful for... medical help when we have a crisis. Family who goes the extra mile for each other.



I am wearing... my comfy "cleaning" day clothes. It is Monday. Time for "Weekly Home Blessing Hour" and monds of laundry from the flu!




I am remembering... how much fun the girls and I had during school on Friday and telling myself that I must "think outside the box" much more often.




I am going... no where this week except speech and a doctor's visit.





I am currently reading... my Bible and a Beverly Lewis "The Cul-de-Sac Kids" book with my seven year old.




I am hoping... that we can avoid any more sickness and get back on our routine this week.




On my mind... my sister. She is in a military hospital in TX seeking treatment for a head injury. She is in lots of pain. Would you please pray for her?





Noticing that... it is getting late and I must get the children up for school. But they have been sick and I know they need their rest.




Pondering these words... "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. ~ Hebrews 12:11, NIV (this hard work is important)




From the kitchen... it is cleaned and ready for a new day. Spaghetti for dinner with homemade bread and salad!




Around the house... laundry and diapers to wash, house to clean, bread to bake. So glad that I am finally feeling better. Much to be done!





One of my favorite things~ little boy chatter, or any child's for that matter, it has been sparse in this house lately with sickness. With four children it is something that I am used to and I miss when it is gone.






From my picture journal...

Dads - They are built in jungle gyms!

For more Daybook Entries visit "The Simple Woman's Daybook".

I love...

I love babies...

I love bath night...

I love baby smells...

I love breast milk on a baby's breath....

I love a freshly bathed babe....

I love motherhood...

I love my life....

Thank you Father for the joy of raising these little ones for You. Forgive me of the times that I loose focus on the blessing and concentrate on the daily "grind" and hard work. They are a joy to me. You have filled my "cup" with joy unspeakable. I am truly blessed. Thank you for motherhood, for family, and for lives lived for You. I am in awe of Your love for me. I don't deserve it and nothing I ever do can earn it. Your salvation has saved me from eternal torment and now I look longingly into eternity as time spent with You, my Saviour. Thank you again, forever. Amen.

Run the Earth, Watch the Sky

Marriage - It can look so different to each of us. It can function differently and can be carried out in different ways. But,

marriage is an institution of GOD!!

 I have truly found that one of the hardest and yet most rewarding lessons that we, as wives can learn, is to pray for our husbands. If we trust that God's will be done and He can change even the most stubborn and unthoughtful mind we can find true peace. And in that moment when we see change, we not only fall deeper in love with our spouse we will fall deeper in love with our Savior who heard our cry and answered our prayers.

I have found a prayer journal that gives me a starting place by which to pray for my husband every day of the month. It even has scriptures to pray over him. For example, here is today's prayer

Day 15- Pray that your husband will choose his friends wisely. Pray that God will bring him men who will encourage his accountability before God, and will not lead him into sin. (Prov. 13:20; Prov.

27:17)

I plan to post each day of this journal here on my blog starting February 1st. So, check back often to see each day and if you would like the entire word document that I have them all in please feel free to email (found under my profile page). I would be more than happy to share it with you.

Moby Wrap

If you know me you know that I love to "wear" my babies! I wear them at church, at home, outside, at the store! I wear them everywhere! (Now I feel a little like Dr. Suess) I have tried several different carrier and slings but my favorite by far has been my Moby. I love it and I can't say enough good about it. With my last (last as in the most recent) baby she suffered from acid reflux for the first nine months of her life. The Moby was a life-saver in that I could carry her upright and against me which was her favorite place to be. And in the snuggness of the Moby she would find comfort and sleep, two things that she did not find often.

When I found a Moby giveaway at "Life in Chicago Reviews" I wanted to spread the word. So, if you or someone close to you is having or has a baby, please take the time to enter so that more mommys and babies can enjoy the pleasures of babywearing.

Body After Baby

Well this is the end of week 2 and while I didn't post last week I have been doing moderatly well. I have "splurged" a couple of times but for the most part I have stayed on my diet which is little to no carbs (except I can have 2 pieces of fruit a day) and very high protien intake. I have noticed that I feel much better the higher my protien levels are during the day. But we have had the stomach flu for the past week and that has made it a little harder to stay on track. So, I haven't had time to shower most mornings yet alone weigh, so I don't have an official weight for this week, but I have been increasing my leg lifts and push ups everyday. I am up to two sets of thirty leg lifts every day, one set in the morning and one at night.

I would like to lose a little more but I know that these last five pounds will take the longest so I am just sticking to eating healthy and exercising daily. I am focused on long term healthy habits versus a "diet". I saw on another mom's blog about her journey doing the Couch Potato to 5K Running Plan this year. I won't be able to start right away as our weather isn't good enough for me to be able to get out with the kids and by the time that Joe gets home it is dark. But I am doing some walking videos that I have right now and preparing for spring when I can get out and do this program. I am very excited about it. I think it will be good for me and something I have wanted to do for a long time.

Samantha is asking this week what our favorite part of a work out is. I would have to say that my favorite part is the feeling of accomplishment that I have at the end of a hard workout. The knowledge that I took the time and made a choice to become healthier for myself and my family.

Weekly Home Blessing Hour

A habit that I have begun this year is the "Weekly Home Blessing Hour". I found this idea on the "Fly Lady" website. I took a couple of days over the Christmas break from school to "prep" the house. I got everything in order and cleaned the first time. This took the longest as I had to put more things away and clean off dressers, bookshelves, and tables. Now that this is done I am able to spend an hour every Monday dusting, vacuuming, and cleaning the bathroom. I also, during this hour, have the children clean their own room, make their beds, clean off their table and bookshelves.  By doing this hour it starts the week off well and helps me to feel less "pressure" to clean while I am trying to teach school. Once the hour is finished the rest of the week I just "maintain". We pick up everyday and I sweep the floor as part of my "afternoon routine*".

The biggest "blessing" I have found to this habit has been that if someone stops by or we have company that calls last minute, I don't have to worry about a dirty bathroom or a floor that is nasty. Please remember that I have four children that are all home, all day. My house isn't always clean and isn't even always picked up, but if I do this once a week I have found that given 10 minutes the kids and I can have the house presentable again every evening before my husband gets home.

I truly LOVE this routine and I wanted to share this find with all of you. I hope that even if you don't implement this into your routine it will give you ideas to think about and help you as you travel on this endless journey of homemaking.

Long Over-due Christmas Photos

This year I made my girls (with the help of my mother in law and a sweet older friend) matching Christmas dresses. I also had a shirt and tie set for Josiah that ended up matching perfectly! I was so happy with the way that their Christmas outfits came together that I just had to hold a "photo shoot" for these special outfits. So, here they are.....be prepared there are a TON of pictures!

Maggie 7years

The Whole Crew

Christmas 2009

I have more shots like this than anything else. With four children seven and under the "out takes" out number the "good" by far!

Another group

So sweet!

I love this one of Sammy. If you know her in person, this photo just screams SAM! I can almost hear her contagious giggle through this photo.

Baby Kate. What more can I say? She is beautiful and charming and a mommy's girl! But although we still call her "baby Kate" she is growing like a weed and not much of a baby anymore.

Josiah. Boy. Three. Ornery. Precious. Loveable. Cuddly. My Little Man.

Sisters. I just LOVE this shot. They are so close and do everything together. They giggle, tell stories, play, and dance and sing. All those things that little girls do, my girls do together.

Family Worship

With this new year we have started a new routine at bedtime. Joe has always spent time with the kids before bed telling Bible stories and asking them questions about the Bible. They would learn passages together and just spend time with each other while meditating on the Word. I have wanted to be more involved in this part of my children's day for awhile but it would always seem that I was either busy with Katherine or, as many of you can relate to, just needed some "me" time and this was the only time I could get it. So the answer to this situation came to me one day during my prayer time. I was asking God to open the door in our schedule and to make it a priority for both Joe and I that we have a strict bedtime for the children while making time for family worship. Well, the Sunday before Joe went back to work and we started back to school we talked and came up with this new plan. And we are loving it!!!!

The elements of our family worship -

1. Song - yes, we sing! And we love it. The children pick most of the songs, but Joe and I use this time to teach them some new songs as well. They will dance and sing and just enjoy praising God in their own way.
2. Thanks - We will often take turns speaking of what we are thankful for that day. The children are learning the practice of noticing the little things in life that we are blessed with. I hope this is a lesson that they carry with them for the rest of their lives. Living a life full of thanksgiving to a Saviour who gave it all for us!
3. Bible Reading - We are reading through the book of Ruth right now. Joe leads in this time and not only reads to the family but also pulls out applicable lessons for all of us. He teaches about life in Bible times, God's faithfulness to provide and care for His people, and Ruth's willingness to serve.
4. Bible Memory - Right now we are learning Psalm 23 as a family. The children are doing exeptionally well I feel. They have the Lord's Prayer memorized but this is a bit longer. It will take some time but they are slowly getting it.
5. Prayer - I LOVE hearing my children pray. I love hearing their prayers grow and mature as their walk with their Saviour grows and deepens. It is one way that I can see their heart. When we slow down and take the time to pray I can see that they pray about what is important to them. They pray for those that they love and for the things that are bothering them. It is a beautiful way to see the heart of my children.

After this time (about 45 min) we tell the children good night and send them off to bed with smiles on their faces. They can fall asleep meditating on the Words and the love that we have just shared. So, for those you who were wondering this is what our family worship time looks like. As with anything, in a house with four young children, things don't always run smoothly and this time of worship is also a time of training the really young ones to sit still and quiet and respect the Word. So, we have to be flexible and teach the lessons that present themselves we try to maintain a level of worship during this time.

Welcome to all of you stopping by from the Fresh Year, Fresh Start link up. I hope you enjoy what you see and decide to stay awhile. I enjoy meeting and getting to know new people.

Our New Homeschooling Schedule

If you follow me on Twitter (@ourheartandhome) you know that since we started back to school on Monday I have implemented a new schedule for us. Up until now we schooled on more of a routine than a schedule. We woke when we wanted and schooled when it happened and so forth. Some days we would start at 8:30 and other days we would start at 10:00. We would get in 5 subjects one day and only 3 the next. There was no consistency and no expectation for my children to hold to and that caused constant whining and trying to get out of work if I tried to do a full day. So here is how we are schooling now, with much more structure and consistency.

Mom wakes - 7:00am (Bible study, morning routine*)
Children wake - 7:30am (morning routine*)
Breakfast - 8:15am
Bible/History - Read together while breafast is eaten
Personal Hygiene - 8:45am
School Starts - 9:00am (math, phonics, language, writing)

Free Time- When school is done for the morning (usuaully around 10:30) the children play and I work on my cleaning routine

Lunch - 11:30am

Rest/School Time - 12:30pm Little ones rest or nap and the big girls do reading and spelling with me. They read to me while I fold laundry, we spell out loud, spelling bee style. We will also do races with math facts, review whatever Bible passage that we are working on (currently Psalm 23) and so forth.

Afternoon Routine* - 3:30 By now everyone but the baby is up and we get started to clean up from the day.

Dinner - 5:30pm

Family Time - 6:30 - 7:45 We watch a movie, play board games, make a visit for church, the kids wrestle with Daddy, or whatever we choose for the night.

Bedtime Snack/Routine - 7:45-8:15pm

Family Worship - 8:15-9:00pm This has become one of my favorite times of day. I will do another post on exactly what this looks like for our family right now at another time. But it is what I call it. It is the time that we as a family spend time worshiping Christ TOGETHER!

I would love to hear your thoughts on scheduling and routines in the home. I have developed other *routines* that I have mentioned here as well. I will post on those soon. They are still a work in progress as I tweek them to make them work and not be too much to accomplish within a reasonable amount of time. As soon as I am comfortable with them I will post about them. Until then, please share with me what your schedule looks like. As a working mom, stay at home mom, homeschooling mom, whatever! I would love to hear from you.

Free Clothing

Do you know a little girl that wears 18-24month clothing? Well, I do! I actually know about three or four girls that wear that size. Well over at My Organized Chaos she is giving away a clothing package valued at $500!! And all for a little girl 18-24 months old. Head over there to enter for the little girl in your life.